I seen that pic on this site last year and I saved it - it was actually my desktop background for while. How about some details about that day? Looks like a doozy. How'd the Albin do?[/quote]
The Albin did MUCH better than the crew.
I sent the picture to Tiny (Chief RC) right after I took it... he and I crossed paths on a different forum and were buying our Albins about the same time. Great guy... he saved my dad and I a trip back east to look at Blackfin we were considering. Is Tiny still around on this site? Haven't seen any posts from him since I started participating....
The Story:
We took delivery of Mad Money in Bellingham Washington where the Albin dealer was located. Our plan was to stay the night in Bellingham and take off early the next day and with a goal of getting to Neah Bay. Our cruise through the San Juans was beautifull... the sky was overcast, winds were less than 10 knots. We then started heading NW through the Straits of Juan de Fuca, still easy cruising. We stopped outside of Port Angeles to check out progess and see if our goal was still realistic, the forecast was still favorable so we continued west. About 30 minutes later, the winds started picking up and I slowed from 18knots down to 14 knots. I flipped the VHF to the weather channel and the forecast was updated for Gale Force Winds, 30-40 kntos. Within minutes, we were smack dab in the middle of the above forecast with seas 8'-10', wind waves 4'-6'. I did not feel comfortable trying to turn the boat around in the steep seas and my dad agreed so we just kept the bow into it trying to make it to Sekiu. This is where I learned the Pro's and Con's of this boat.
Pro's:
The boat did excellent in these horrible conditions... I never felt like the boat couldn't take these waves, it clearly performed better than me! I was stuffing the bow pulpit into the face of the swells as the swim step was trying to clear the face of the previous swell. It tracked extremely well given the conditions and responded perfectly when throttled.
Con's:
Deck Drainage. The scuppers work great... the drainage system in all of the hatches on the deck do not. Water poured into the bilge through the hatch covers... the little gutters and drain tubes could not keep up with the volume. This is even true when I simply wash the boat. This leads to the next con:
Bilge Pumps. Our boat (1999) had 3 pumps installed when we bought it. The forward pump which for some reason sits about 4 inches off the bottom, the main pump which is a diaphram type pump and the manual whale pump. As the water accumulated, it would rush from the bow to the stern as the boat climbed and crashed down the swells. You could see the bilge lights come on, then go off as the water rushed by the float switches. The main pump failed after maybe 30 minutes of this abuse... I learned after the fact that the inline strainer was clogged with bilge "stuff".
So eventually enough water got in the bilge and when we were sliding down the face of large swell, the water splashed up forward and shorted out the bow thruster motor. The motor came on by itself and was running to port.... the controls on the dash were useless. My good friend who was with us (he's the mechanical guy in the group) runs down below and starts removing the cushions to expose the bow thruster. Meanwhile, I'm fighting to keep the boat straight while the motor screams at us. It sucked.... eventually, the cotter pin breaks and now the motor is revving at a super high RPM and starts filling the cabin with smoke. My buddly looked like Kermit the frog down there.. he was airborn as we'd decend down the swells and would then slam onto the dinette cushions at the bottom. Now keep in mind.... this is day 2 of owning the boat.... day one of actually being away from the dock. I did not know how the bow thruster was designed and was concerned about the smoke turning into fire and of course, taking on water. Just then, the 300amp fuse pops and kicks off the circuit breaker for the 12volt systems. All my instruments shut down... the only thing running is the engine. After a quick inspection with flashlights, we realize the hull was not compromised and we were still seaworthy. I then remembered the 12volt panel and reset everything.... all electronics were working again. My buddy then started to feel sick, so we put on our rain coats and I carefully walked him outside the cabin. I held onto his belt loops as he tried to get sick over the side... the poor guy was full of electrical smoke! It looked like a second exhaust pipe when he finally threw up! The weather finally started to simmer down and we were able to make it to Sekiu.... it was a very quiet ride... not much was said the rest of the night.
The rest of the trip to Ilwaco was decent.... not major issues. I am not exactly sure how big some of those swells were but you guys know how high off the water the bow railing sits... and that wasn't the largest swell we faced, just one I was able to capture.
I will tell you that now we have the boat transported via semi and trailer.
Here is another shot.... you can see it just wasn't that pleasant of a day.
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